Marianne's Politiblog

Wednesday, August 8, 2018

I still have a lot to learn about how to use this bog technology, but I'm working on it.

Most of the results are in from the primary and that "blue wave" they've been talking about has apparently washed over Island County - even though turnout was abysmal. Hey, where were you all? Right, you're the ones who account for the numbers we did get. Please, before the November election, get on all your friends, neighbors, co-workers, anybody, and make sure they understand just how important it is to speak out, via the ballot, on who runs our country and how. I have underlined and put in red those names you will see on the November ballot. For all but one race (the Court of Appeals) the votes are in my favor (yours too, I hope). I will comment on individual races below.
Island County voter turnout: 32.64%

Senate
No surprise here, Maria Cantwell takes more than 50% of the vote and a distant second is the Trump loving Susan Hutchison. Expect the dark money machine to go into overdrive on this race. What really bothers me is that Joey Gibson, the Nazi who just staged yet another riot complete with guns in Portland, got as many votes as he did.

House, District 2
This one is downright shameful. Sure, Rick has a vast lead, but the fact that his opponent in November is Uncle Mover, who files for every election just to advertise his business, that's just plain pathetic. Given the very small differences, the second name could change before its over. I don't know how many votes are left to count.

position #1
This is a total shock and delightful surprise. We all thought Norma was invincible. There's still the November election to go, and no doubt the dark $$ will be pouring in, but this is so encouraging.

Scott McMullen 51.27%Norma Smith 48.73%

position #2
I'm less surprised at Dave Paul's big win, given that he is eloquent and accustomed to speaking in public, but I'm equally delighted. Way to go!

Dave Paul 53.49%Dave Hayes 46.51%

total votes excluding write-ins: 26,416

State Court of Appeals
This is our one serious potential loss. We're all seeing at the federal level just how vitally important our courts are. I'm going to put Seguine's lead down to sheer ignorance on the part of most people, and the fact that he and the Skagit Republicans did tons of advertising. While I was rooting for Rita Latsinova, Cecily Hazelrigg-Hernandez came highly recommended and has a positive history. I'll be getting behind her as best I can, and hope others will as well.

Island County Commissioner, district 3
Yay Janet! Way to go! In spite of the mean-spirited letter to the editor in the last News-Times, its clear that the majority of people are tired of the same old same old.

Rick Hannold 48.24%Janet St Clair 51.76%

Island County Sheriff
I've been making a study of whose political signs are grouped together. Notice the large signs in the field between Bayview and Freeland. Standing together are the signs for Rick Hannold and Lane Campbell. Even aside from Mr Campbell's serious case of foot-in-mouth, that juxtaposition tells me a lot. I think we'll do better with Mr Felici as sheriff.

Lane Campbell 47.7%Rick Felici 52.3%

Ballot measures
These were obvious no-brainers and it looks like most everybody agrees. Ok, that's done.

Thursday, July 26, 2018

A number of you have contacted me to ask why I haven't covered all the offices up for election this year. Fact is, I have. The whole thing is so massive that I had to do separate posts. You will see those listed down the right hand side of the blog page. Please do check out all of them.

Also, a number of people have contacted me with new information about a candidate running against Rick Larsen. He had a great line on his website. The part he forgot to mention is that he has been convicted of insurance fraud - twice. I also hear that in his enthusiasm for Bernie he had developed a bad habit of bad-mouthing and name-calling Democrats. I am hereby withdrawing the nice things I said about the young man. Note that I was not recommending him personally, but I did like his platform. I guess we'll have to find someone with some stronger ethics and a greater degree of civility to move that platform forward.

Saturday, July 21, 2018

I have now gotten the definitive word from a whole bunch of you that there is a card in the envelope with the ballot which says, in large print NO STAMP IS NEEDED TO RETURN YOUR BALLOT. Ok, message received. Which means you have no excuse for failing to return the ballot.

Several people have mentioned that the race which needs to be highlighted is the judicial one. I agree that very few people know a lot about lawyers and judges. I posted the races in the order they appear on the ballot. If some of you feel it really needs more emphasis, I will re-post so it shows at the top.

Welcome to the Primary
marathon. Note that your ballot is particularly long this time. Because of the
open primary system in Washington, there are no fewer than 29 candidates for
Maria Cantwell’s Senate seat. Luckily there are not quite so many for most of
the other positions. In fact, I am appalled that a number of important county
offices have no challenger to the incumbent at all. I will list those
positions, but see no point in going into great detail. For the most part,
unless they have done really wonderful things, I do not vote for unchallenged
candidates.

Here’s the basic information:

Ballots must be returned no
later than August 7.

You can mail your ballot as long as the postmark is on or
before August 7. To be sure that happens, get your ballot in the mail before
4:00 pm. Remember, it needs a stamp if you mail it.

There are also drop boxes for depositing ballots without
need of a stamp. There are now 6 of those, in the following locations:

Island
County Elections Office400 N Main
Street Coupeville

Oak Harbor
City Hall865 SE
BarringtonOak
Harbor

Trinity
Lutheran Church18341
Hwy 525Freeland

Langley
Post Office1152nd StreetLangley

Ken’s
Corner Red Apple4141
Hwy 525Clinton

Camano
Annex121
N East Camano DrCamano

Deadline for dropping in the collection box is 8:00 pm on
August 7.

There have been some unusual and worrisome communications
coming out of the elections office this year, so make sure you are registered.
If you have not received your ballot by July 21/22, contact the elections
office. Like jurisdictions elsewhere, Island County sent out notices to some
people that they were being removed from the voter rolls, but the notices
looked so much like junk mail that many may have been tossed out. If you’re not
sure, you can check on line at https://weiapplets.sos.wa.gov/myvote/#/login

Marianne’s usual disclaimer. I’m not telling you how to
vote. I’m just telling you how I would/will vote and why. You, obviously, will
decide for yourself. Please, I have spent a lot of time and energy researching
all of this, so do NOT yield to the temptation just to find the name in red at
the bottom of each race. Its really important to me that your votes be
informed.

After a vigorous initiative campaign season, you will note
that there are no initiatives on the primary ballot. The deadline for
submitting signatures to the Secretary of State was July 6. That office is
still counting and tabulating and deciding, and those initiatives with enough
signatures will be on the November general election ballot.

Two further points: Blogger and I are having a disagreement about posting. Some of the contents are underlined where I didn't want it and some are italicized where I didn't want it. Since I'm getting phone calls, emails, and people stopping me on the street, I'm posting with all the bloops just to get it out there in a timely fashion.

Second point. I apologize to the Camano folks for not researching the numerous candidates for Snohomish PUD seats. I don't feel like I know enough about those issues, and am feeling very pushed for time. I hope someone with the PUD boundaries has done this homework. Again, sorry it wasn't me.

Ready for a marathon? This will take several cups of coffee.
There are no fewer than 29 candidates for Maria Cantwell’s seat in the US
Senate. Here they are, in alphabetical order by first name, just because that’s
how my Word file sorted them.

I am not familiar enough with Blogger to be able to deal with its gratuitous addition of underlining where it was never intended. Please just ignore the underlining. I can't figure out how to make it go away and am feeling pushed to get this all posted.

The website wouldn’t open for me, but
I did find a news story to the effect that Mr Tsimerman was banned from Seattle
city hall for a year for calling council members “Nazi social democratic mafia”
while he was running for mayor. He was born in Germany and came to the US from
the Soviet Union as a political and religious refugee. A perennial candidate
who challenges the status quo but is all over the map and less than coherent.
Not a serious candidate.

Another not very serious candidate. He appears to be
involved in marine shipping, having worked, he says, on container ships,
ferries, research ships, and tankers.

His focus is on the meaninglessly large national debt of $19
trillion. He blames Wall Street and “the Hedge Fund high fliers” for costing
jobs, infrastructure repair, pensions, medication, and health care.

He’s anti-abortion, although he focuses on late-term
abortion.

He wants to restructure the income tax, require corporation
to consider public values before profit, and eliminate shell companies.

As he says, his is a shoestring campaign intended to raise
public awareness.

He wants to reduce the country’s carbon footprint and
arrange the budget to make that happen.

He wants to see public banks be able to serve the cannabis
industry, to allow cannabis entrepreneurs to thrive, to see cannabis regulated
as alcohol is, and to de-schedule cannabis.

He favors universal health care.

He wants to work with tribes to protect wildlife.

He wants genuine financial reform.

He wants to redefine the term ‘corporation’ since many
corporations are not mega-monsters but actually very small businesses.

Gotta say, I like the man’s platform. I would like to see
him in a position to be able to carry out at least some parts of it. I just
wish he weren’t running against Maria Cantwell because in this instance I am
not about to vote for him.

His focus: Stop overtaxing, stop overspending. The true
irony behind that platform is that the man is career Navy, having retired as
commander of a nuclear sub who then went to work (revolving door) in admin at
Boeing. He insists that reducing taxes pays for itself. Tell that to the people
who just got skunked by the great tax bill just passed. His website is full of
all sorts of charts and graphs and arguments and formulae.

His platform:

All goods come not from government but from a thriving
economy, so get government spending under control.

Institute a long term energy plan.

Make proper use of natural resources, do not wall them off
from use but use them sustainably.

Encourage and subsidize sustainable
energy sources like wind and solar.

Reduce our carbon footprint.

Clean up hazardous waste from
factories and other pollutants.

Ensure crops and vegetation are safe
for people, animals, and bees.

Support natural and biodegradable
construction, textiles, and products such as hemp.

Clean water and air are basic human
rights and should not be privately owned.

Expand Medicare and single payer
programs with no co-pays or premiums.

Tie health care enrollment into
Social Security.

Health care is a universal right and
should be provided to everyone regardless of ability to pay.

Reexamine the national debit, perhaps
restructure the entire system.

Decrease military spending, increase
veterans’ benefits.

Ensure that taxes are actually used
for federal programs that benefit the people, such as education and health
care.

Spending on public benefits is not
debt, it is an investment in our people.

Support our troops by not sending
them overseas to fight bogus wars.

Police need training in de-escalating
violence, in mental health, and in first aid.

Provide free college and/or
vocational training.

Support labor unions.

Increase the minimum wage to
$18.00/hour.

Better protect LGBT people. We’re all
human and should be treated accordingly.

Improve rights for first nations
people and for immigrants, regardless of color or creed.

Support the separation of church and
state.

Support the decriminalization of
marijuana.

Institute term limits.

Remove the electoral college.

Consider a ranked-choice voting
system.

End gerrymandering and make districts
more representative.

End Citizens United.

As I said, this is a platform I could
easily get behind. I just wish the gentleman were starting a little lower on
the electoral ladder, say as a county commissioner or city council member. This
is a voice I want to hear.

This guy seems a little confused.
He’s all for gun reform but wants to secure the borders. He wants to protect
“Dreamers and other law-abiding citizens”. He’s concerned with the conflation
of violence with mental illness and wants to see more mental health services.
He favors campaign finance reform. He wants to see criminal justice reform
since many people are serving long jail terms for ‘crimes’ which are no longer
on the books. And he wants to see a carbon tax to reduce carbon emissions.

My impression is of someone with good
intentions and poor education who is shooting far too high.

Another perennial candidate, who
claims to run an economic development organization. He assures us that he works
only for “Certified Americans from all races and those legally obtaining their
citizenship!”

His entire front page is in caps,
with exclamation points (!) and lots of different colors. He comes across as
just a bit hysterical. He claims to be a WA State senator (and you wondered
what was wrong with the legislature, right?) Much of his front page is devoted
to vilifying Maria Cantwell.

This is one right wing loonie who
evidently enjoys throwing mud and phony allegations all over the place,
claiming the national debt is Obama’s fault, the Dems are the ones killing
Social Security, etc.

His big focus has been completion of
the Columbia River Project originally begun under the Roosevelt administration.
Times have changed. Our awareness of how rivers work has changed. His demand
for federal largesse in the name of independence has not changed.

Yet another perennial candidate,
perhaps a bit more loonie than most. He actually changed his name legally from
Michael George Nelson to GoodSpaceGuy in 2006. He has been a candidate 18 times
– and been defeated 18 times.

His platform:

Population control through a birth
fee. (I’d love to see how that would work)

Replace the job-destroying minimum
wage with individual free market wages so that jobs become easier to get.

Reject the voter supported Big
Government Command Economy which produces wild spending and poverty. (yeah, its
written in English, but I can’t figure out what it means)

A prosperous future in space will
come through orbital space colonization. Start with small habitats, privately
owned by billionaire. Join the small habitats together to form the cheaper
places to learn to live in space. The free market will eliminate poverty.

Yep, another right wing loonie.

James Robert “Jimmie” Deal, Green partyhttp://www.jamesrobertdeal.org/

He’s working on becoming a perennial
candidate, having run for Lynnwood city council, Snohomish county executive,
Lieutenant Governor, and Governor. He is a real estate attorney and broker. His
law focus is smart meters, fluoridation, and environmental class action.

He says of Maria Cantwell “the
favorite in this race has done much good. But she is wrong or silent on many
issues.” Agreed. I just don’t think that’s a good reason to be rid of her.

He asserts that smart meters are
illegally collecting data on private individuals, which data is then sold. He
wants fiber networks rather than wi-fi, which he asserts will fry us all.

He proposes to solve traffic congestion
by an Uber-like van service, which he asserts would take half the cars off the
road.

He wants to diversify the Social
Security trust fund into many different safe investments and run it asa sovereign wealth and pension fund. (are you
scared yet?)

He wants to legalize and tax most
recreational drugs, and use the profits for free addiction treatment. This
would reduce organized crime, improve policing, reduce imprisonment, and lessen
border problems. (This actually sounds reasonable)

Stop drilling NOW. Require Exxon to
spend all new capital on solar, wind, and wave.

Lower the voting age to 17.

Roundup causes cancer, kills salmon,
and should be banned. Lets become an organic nation.

Flouridation is a profitable fraud.

Sell bonds and construct enough reduced
rent housing to house all.

We need election and campaign finance
reform.

This guy is a fascinating mixed bag
of very good ideas and then some truly out-there stuff creeps in. Thing is, I’m
inclined to agree with him on the issue of wi-fi. I think the stuff is
dangerous and many years from now, if there is still a functional society, we
will discover the damage it is doing.

All in all, an interesting person who
should put his energies to good use somewhere other than running for the
Senate.

And now, for a bit of stark contrast
with the previous candidate, a woman of color on my side of the aisle, comes an
openly racist Nazi. Yep, he’s the leader of the Patriot Prayer Group, which
started a riot in Portland on 6-30-18. He is also a member of The Proud Boys, a
hate group out of Portland. He and 5 of his followers were arrested at UW for
carrying a whole load of weapons, including an AR-15 rifle, just days after the
Santa Fe, Texas shooting.

His platform:

Term Limits

Protect the
2nd amendment

The Fair Tax

Balanced
Budget

Build The
Middle Class

He
proposes a 23% flat SALES tax. Now who do you suppose that would hit the
hardest? He proposes to audit FDA for collusion with big pharma.

Definitely
a mixed bag here, worried about pollution, GMOs, toxic chemicals. He wants
mandatory labeling of pesticides (they already are), and GMO labeling. He wants
to work on how to clean up the water.

The
national debt is out of control. He’s ‘pro-life’ (one wonders if that includes
the lives of people threatened with AR-15s or those beaten in his riots). He
says gay marriage is fine, but don’t ask Christians or Muslims to support it.
He seems rather confused on immigration. He wants to streamline the process of
legal immigration, but wants to keep out the ‘bad guys.’

I’m
afraid he lost me at the start, being a Nazi and all. I have a problem with
Nazis.

Mr Orlinski is an immigrant from Poland with a strong
anti-communist, anti-socialist bent. He describes himself as “an independent
populist Republican who is fiscally conservative and moderate on social
issues.” He wants to work to reduce unnecessary free goods and services
currently provided by the government. He wants to restore fiscal sanity and
reduce the national debt. He wants first-class education. He says borders need
to be secured and immigration policies need to be reworked to benefit citizens.
We need to restore the manufacturing base of the US. He wants to work to end
corruption, crony capitalism, corporate welfare, and to renegotiate trade
agreements. He says free enterprise will cure unemployment. He wants to cut
immigration and deport undocumented workers to cause a tight labor market which
will raise workers’ wages. He wants to keep taxes low while investing in
infrastructure, and he wants to delay or scrap Obamacare. But then he also
wants to reinstate Glass-Steagall. His final word “Put America first and make
it great again. So help me God.”

Well, I am underwhelmed. People who come here from
formerly Communist countries tend to over-react and become rabid right wingers.
As Mr Orlinski demonstrates. There is very little coherence or logic to the
various statements, just the conviction that capitalism cures all.

jn.butler1@gmail.comMr Butler’s
focus seems to be the Christian Faith Center in Federal Way. His Facebook page
contains many videos, one of which is by the “2020 Trump for President group.”
Oh. This leads to a screed to “make families great again.” It appears the man
has a problem with Family Court. It sounds as though he is trying to regain
custody of his daughter. The agencies and courts have consistently sided with
the mother.

Under Vote Smart, he lists himself as founder, People of
Faith Life Group and Founder & Chair, Single Fathers Association of
America, 2011 to present.

His entire platform is family court reform. Well, not quite.
He wants to build ‘mega-shelters’ for the homeless. Wants to give teachers a
raise and better incentives. Wants term limits. Wants stricter laws for
pedophiles. Wants to raise speed limits.

Pretty much a single issue guy who needs to work out his
family problems somewhere other than running for Senate.

This one is a right-winger’s
right-winger. First the military and then Seattle Police Dept.

“God, country, family. The United States of America is a
Christian nation. I am proud to say that Jesus is my Savior and I follow him
first.”

issues:

·build a wall. border security is national
security.

·immigration. we need to use our heads, not our
hearts. No amnesty is good amnesty.

·tax cuts benefit all taxpayers, we need a 15%
flat tax.

·address national debt and unfunded liabilities
by cutting welfare.

·Dems are blocking Trump judicial appointments.
Replace those dems.

·2nd amendment not to be infringed.
Lifetime NRA member. Lifetime member of Citizens’ Committee for the Right to
Keep and Bear Arms. “An armed society is a polite society.”

·Dems are all hypocrites forcing people into mass
transit while they use SUVs and fly around. Need “free choice” of energy
sources.

·“I’m an environmentalist. I spend weeks every
year in the great outdoors. I practice ‘leave no trace’.”

·Oil companies are very careful not to cause
damage to our ecosystem, and there is a lot of oversight.

·We should use nuclear power. It is clean and
safe.

·I’m all for renewable energy, but the federal
government should not subsidize it, thereby picking winners and losers.”

·Coal is cleaner now than it has ever been, and
we are sitting on years and years of coal energy.

·Just remember, when the sun isn’t shining, the
wind isn’t blowing, and the winter runoff is low, we still need energy for our
electric cars. We need to get it from somewhere.

·Energy will produce thousands of jobs. Drill
here, drill now.

·Infrastructure is crumbling in spite of the
$0.18 federal fuel tax. Where did the $$ go?

·The military needs to be rebuilt in order to
promote “peace through strength.”

·Healthcare is not a right. Let the free market
work.

·Veterans need to receive the benefits they
deserve. The VA needs to be revamped. Too many vets are falling through the
cracks and too many are taking advantage of the system.

·The left is out to fundamentally change our
country. They want to do away with our rights and responsibilities and control
our destiny. If the left takes control of the House they will immediately start
impeachment proceedings and we will find ourselves in a Constitutional crisis.

·pro-life

·the death penalty should be used more.

·opposes recreational use of marijuana.

Well, that’s about as right wing as you can get. I do
wonder, as a cop, how he feels about “an armed society is a polite society.”
Does that mean he is polite when he approaches someone on the street because
they could be carrying a loaded weapon?

Remember her? She’s the incumbent Senator. If you hadn’t
noticed, things are rather hot in the senate right now, what with the
nomination of a far-right criminal to the Supreme Court and all. Yeah, he’s a
criminal. Seems he lied under oath to the Senate during his confirmation
hearings for the Circuit Court. Anyway, Maria is leading the charge against
him, for which I offer both profound respect and thanks.

She believes climate change is real and needs to be dealt
with. She sees the potential for clean energy creating many good jobs. In fact
it is already doing so in spite of administration opposition. She strongly
supports the Paris agreement, although the Senate as a whole does not seem to
want to weigh in on the probably illegal withdrawal. She’s been fighting to
protect our coasts from offshore oil drilling and our national lands from
fossil and nuclear exploitation. She has long worked to keep our waters clean.

She worked to force Scott Pruitt out of EPA and has
pledged to oppose any new nominee with similar anti-environmental attitudes.

She has
supported the Mueller investigation from the start, is very concerned about Russian
interference with US elections, and is doing what she can to keep it from
happening again.

She is a
strong supporter of net neutrality, the Affordable Care Act, and pretty much
the whole progressive agenda. Oh, and she’s a big supporter of Roe v Wade,
which is one reason she is fighting the Supreme Court nomination.

She has fought
for DACA, Dreamers, and the release of the children kidnapped at the border.

She fought the
tax “reform” ripoff.

She is by no
means perfect, but she’s been in the Senate long enough to have some influence,
and she uses it for the most part to push our issues and to oppose the right
wing takeover.

I don’t see we
have much choice in the matter. We really need to keep Maria right where she
is. I’ll be voting for her.

His website is not at all informative. We learn that he is
one of 8 siblings, born and raised in the Spokane valley. His focus is on
family and faith and ‘doing the right thing’, without necessarily defining it.

from Wikipedia we learn that he is currently a WAstate senator, since 2013, and a former state
rep.

from the Primary Voter’s Guide we learn that his “focus is
on Freedoms, Family, and Faith.” And he has 10 kids.

Ok, that’s enough to know he probably should not be in the
Washington state senate, let alone in the federal Senate.

His web page says it all. The front page image is of Mr
Heines next to a cardboard cutout of Trump. His background is as a military
trainer in the US and in various middle eastern countries on behalf of Raytheon
and Northrup Grumman.

He is disgruntled that he was refused permission to participate
in the Sequim annual parade. Evidently he didn’t read the application material
very carefully and missed the deadline. He sees this as a “rich Democrat” plot.

Mr Luke is a former Republican precinct officer and convention
delegate of the Ron Paul wing of the R party. In 2016 he decided he was really
a libertarian.

He ran as a Libertarian in 2016, and both he and his brother
are running this year. Their stated intent is to gain exposure for the
Libertarian party.

On the one hand he says that he is more comfortable with
federal than with local issues. On the other hand, he believes that the States
should be the primary unit of government. He is bothered by the conduct of
government and the lack of accountability, especially by the police. He feels
threatened by the police as representatives of that government. He wants to
work on criminal justice reform and jury nullification. (Jury nullification is
the idea that a jury may recognize that a person committed the act of which
they stand accused, but the jury finds they did the right thing by committing
that act. Consider some of the pipeline and oilport demonstrations.)

He believes there are too many laws and that many of them
conflict with the Constitution. He believes that mandatory minimum sentences
are too harsh, and that the people, through jury nullification, are the
ultimate backstop against tyranny.

It sounds like Mr Luke has a problem with the law. I don’t
think running for Senate will solve that problem. Yet another also-ran.

This information comes from the 2016 Primary Voters’ Guide,
when Dr Said also ran for Senate.

He’s from Grant County, where he has been PCO and state
delegate, and has sat on the State Democratic Central Committee (which might
explain why the party has such problems)

He’s a doctor who feels the need to puff himself up a bit: “holding one of the highest medical degrees in
the US, Expert of US-Arab/Muslim relations.”

He originally intended to run in 1992, but the party
convinced him to withdraw in favor of Patty Murray.

His response to a Young Dem questionnaire:

Conservative on social issues, liberal on Progressive issues
such as education, environment, military, etc.

Was expelled from Haifa in 1948 when Israel declared itself
a state, along with 700,000 other Palestinians. He goes into arguments about
how ridiculous the Jewish claim is.

He is a perennial candidate, who is running this time “to
excite 3 groups to register to vote: the Muslims, who exceed 400,000, the
Latinos (as I am Spanish speaking) who exceed 700,000, and the young people.

In answer to the question of what he wants to accomplish in
office, he goes on about how he wants to show that Muslims are good people.

What is the difference between you and your opponent?
(interestingly, the other 27 candidates are not even considered). Answer: she
is very cozy with the military. She gave the WA vote to Hillary instead of
Bernie.

He admires Bernie because he is truthful and, while Jewish,
is sympathetic to the Palestinian people.

Re: background checks for gun licenses. No, its not enough.
We need to change the 2nd amendment.

Should government regulate climate emissions? Yes, and we
have to enforce very strictly.

Should the 1% have a higher tax rate? Yes.

Roe v Wade? No. Once the woman is pregnant it is not her
privilege to do anything she wants to her fetus.

Supports universal health care, and has a plan to implement
it.

He uses his clinic for civic purposes. He offers free health
care to anyone under 18 if they will sign a statement that for 1 year they will
not use street drugs or drink alcohol, and that when they turn 18 they will register
to vote. “Young people can do a lot if they are motivated, encouraged, and
given the opportunity.”

All in all, a good guy with a particular personal bias (we
all have those). I really like his encouragement of young people to get
involved politically. I don’t like his religious bias against a woman’s right
to autonomy over her body.

I think Dr Said might do well in county or even state
politics. I don’t think he would do well at the federal level.

Mr De La Fuente is having some fun at the expense of the US
government and of voters. He is in fact a resident of San Diego, California. He
is running against Senator Diane Feinstein. He is also running in 4 other
states, Washington being one of them. To quote “Rocky De La Fuente is running
for the US Senate in five states simultaneously to prove just how ludicrous the
election process has become, especially for any independent seeking the
Presidency.”

Yep, sounds pretty ludicrous. I don’t see a whole lot of
point in doing more research on this guy, even if he sounds pretty reasonable
for a Republican.

The problem is the global capitalist system which cannot be
fixed locally.

Pro women’s rights (pro-abortion).

Totally opposed to any form of discrimination.

Hell No Wall! Full civil rights and labor rights for
all.Open the borders, disband ICE.

Re affordable housing – tax corporations and accumulated
wealth, cut military spending. Use that to build a hell of a lot more pubic
housing.

Supports Puyallup tribe against PSE’s LNG plant in Tacoma.
Against all fracking, which he says Cantwell supports. Wants to nationalize
energy under worker control, and make a swift transition to sustainable
renewable energy sources.

He organizes against the far right & neo-Nazis, one of
whom is now running for state Senate.

Wants to end the capitalist system and put workers in
charge, so enterprises are owned by people collectively, run democratically,
and the workers call the shots. Provide everyone heath care and a clean
environment instead of building B-1 bombers.

Gotta say, I admire Mr Hoffman. I believe his world view may
be a bit narrower than what is necessary at the federal level, but I would sure
like to see him running for county or state office.

Ms Hutchinson filed 1 hour before the deadline. She is the
lead R contender for Maria Cantwell’s seat. She is former chair of Washington’s
Republican party, but quit after a series of foot-in-mouth incidents,
including:

~ she called
Seattle’s income tax on the wealthy “a veiled attempt to turn over the
constitution” and urged rich people to engage in “civil disobedience” by
refusing to pay.

~ she said Trump’s “grab ‘em by the pussy” remark was just
him channeling Bill Clinton, and besides, Trump was a registered Dem at the
time so it doesn’t count.

~she told Ted Cruz he was a ‘traitor’ at the R national convention for
not being pro-Trump enough.

~ she refers to herself as “ballot
babe.” Meaning?

~ she wrote to Governor Inslee
about Syrian refugees vs 1970s Vietnamese refugees, explaining that Syrians
were “the ISIS JV team” and all they really want is charter schools.

from her website:

~ she has successfully fought a
state income tax.And that is literally
the only policy statement to be found on the entire website. She stresses all
the committees to which she has been appointed and all the good works she has
done as a volunteer. Oh, and she was a reporter for KIRO radio for many years.

In a video she claims “the
incumbent” cares about DC, not WA. She lists all the ills in Seattle, while the
city collects more taxes. She is fighting tax increases.

She claims the Rs gave college
tuition cuts, balanced the budget, and funded public schools. Right. And they
invented sliced bread too.

She says her opponent is a
lifetime politician.

“When Trump is good for WA, I’ll
support him, and when not, I can talk to him.”

As far as I can tell Ms Hutchinson
has been relying on her recognition as a former KIRO radio reporter and her
prominence in Republican politics. This is a good supporter of Trump who can
justify anything. I am so relieved that she would be able to talk to him. Given
Ms Hutchinson’s propensity for foot in mouth disease, she would be in good
company in the Senate. I think we have more than enough of that right now.

He rails against the fact that the Constitution originally
mandated that senators be elected by their respective state legislatures, and
that the 17th amendment in 1913 changed that to allow the people to
elect senators. Horrors. And all the ills of the country are to be attributed
to that change.

Ok, another single issue loonie.

And that, finally, is the end of the 29 candidates. I
predict with a certain degree of confidence that after the primary the two
candidates on the November Ballot will be Maria Cantwell and Susan Hutchinson.
Which means I have just wasted several days’ worth of time researching all of
these candidates. The things I do for civic responsibility.

And just to reiterate, after all of that long litany, I will
be voting for Maria Cantwell. I know she’s not
perfect, but to quote some pragmatic friends, “don’t let the perfect be the
enemy of the good.” Right now we need all the good we can get in the Senate.
Yep, there are issues on which I disagree rather vehemently with Maria, and
issues where she has been missing in action. But on the really important
issues, like Obamacare, environmental protection, Roe v Wade, and Supreme Court
nominations, she has been there for us. We really need that right now.